Temple of Outcasts
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: Even when the world returns to normality after the end of the world, for some, happiness is only an illusion. Others, an inescapable lie. For one, there is no such hope for smiles, no laughter, where even the simplest touch of another leaves him yelling.


Creation began on 05-13-18

Creation ended on 05-14-15

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Temple of Outcasts

A/N: Part of my Evangelion multiverse like _A Maddening Cause/A New Cause, My Special Keeper, Immortal Ikari, Shinji: Master of the Cards, Evaflowne,_ etc., but with more pain. Set over fifteen years after _EoE_ , when things have barely settled for the world or its people.

This was the only place left on the whole planet that was bound to have any information as to the whereabouts of the missing Third Child. Seeing that it was in Japan, it was unlikely that the boy would be anywhere else.

Bomei-sha no jiin, the Temple of Outcasts, located on the island of Kiganjima, one of the only small number of islands belonging to Japan that were uninhabited by people.

"I wonder how he managed to get here, though," wondered a slightly-older Misato Katsuragi as she set foot upon the small dock of the island.

After NERV spent a year returning to just a research institute with the loss of its Evangelions and its very reputation after the incarceration of Gendo Ikari among other individuals that were caught for various shady dealings, most people just wanted to forget about everything that went wrong and move on with their lives. Most included many of the NERV personnel that came back after Third Impact and quickly turned in their resignations and ceased any contact with the organization.

The temple seemed rather large and made of stone and wood, just like a traditional temple would be, as Misato looked up at its mountainous base.

"You actually think he would come here?" An older Makoto Hyuga asked Misato.

"Where else would he be?" She asked him as they walked up the stone path.

The front gate, however, was made of iron and covered in a layer of rust, a clear indication that this place was most likely unkempt.

"Question," went Hyuga to Misato, "even if he were here, what makes you think he's willing to talk with us? Nobody's spoken to or about him for over fifteen years. He probably hasn't even gone back to school since…everything that went down the way they did."

Part of the reasons nobody wanted to talk about Third Impact included Shinji, like he was directly involved in the fiasco that his parents and SEELE were behind. But it was unlikely that nobody could just not hear of his whereabouts for over fifteen years. If he were by himself, there was no chance that he'd stay that way and not be around others.

Misato didn't answer him and grabbed hold of one of the rusty handles, pulling away when the right side of the gate opened, revealing the rest of the path leading up to the temple.

A man sat on one of the large rocks on the path. He must've been in his late-twenties, with salt and pepper hair, dressed in orange and tan robes, and was holding a large stick in his hands.

"What do you want?" He asked them.

"We're looking for someone," Misato answered him.

"People that often end up here are often the ones that don't want to be sought after."

Misato took out a photo from her red jacket and gave it to the man.

"Have you or anyone here seen someone that resembles the boy in this picture?" She questions. "His name is Shinji Ikari. He'd likely be in his early-thirties."

The man looked at the photo and responded, "First time anyone bothered to come by here to the middle of nowhere just to find someone who doesn't want to be found by outsiders. If you keep going up to the temple, you won't like what you find. We, however, choose to look the other way. Nobody here wants or needs most explanations for why."

Misato and Hyuga continued up the path, but the former was confused by what the man stated. What did he mean by them not liking what they find if they continued? Did something happen to Shinji that they didn't know about? That would've been an unknown since they didn't know anything beyond Third Impact…or what Asuka chose to disclose when people started returning.

The temple grounds were like a giant sand garden in front of the large structure, maintained by several men and women of various ages, all dressed in robes. Most looked as though they were teens and preteens while the rest were all adults.

"I wonder what made them outcasts?" Hyuga asks.

"Whatever drove them to come here," Misato stated.

They walked into the main structure of the temple and saw a few kids sitting in the hall.

"Excuse me, but have any of you seen a man looking anything like this boy?" Hyuga asked them, showing Shinji's picture.

"Forever isolated," a young, blond-haired boy expressed, pointing to a small room down the hall. "Never a man, always in pain and always full of contempt."

Misato walked over to the door and just forced it open, revealing, to her greatest shock, who she was looking for.

"Shinji," she spoke.

-x-

Shinji Ikari, unchanged since that dreadful day in Tokyo-3, sat in a small chair, looking out a window at the world around the temple. He ignored everything around him.

"Shinji," a female voice uttered behind him. "Shinji?"

Misato approached him, but he gave absolutely no indication that he was aware of her presence; he didn't look towards in even the slightest degree.

"He's not there," she turned to face a young girl with pink hair. "He's never there. I mean, he's here on the physical plane, but up here (she points to her head) and here (points to her chest)… He's a shut-in."

"You mean, he ignores everyone?" Hyuga questioned.

"Only on his bad days," she states. "On his good days, however, he just walks around, never talking to anyone. As we came to accept, he's lost any capacity for socialization. But we keep him here."

Misato raises her left hand to touch his right hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the girl told her.

"Why?" She asks.

"My sister tried that, and he just retreated deeper into himself for months. I tried to assure him that nobody here was out to get him…and he just yelled until everyone was ten feet away from him."

Misato then pulled her hand away from him.

"Nobody here is out to get him?" She questions.

"Most of us just want to forget about that day over fifteen years ago. It's an omen just to bring it up."

"You mean, Third Impact?" Hyuga asks.

"Aaaaauurgh!" Shinji yelled, his eyes widening. "All dead! All taken! Liars! You hide behind smiles, keeping everything ambiguous! You lie and cast aside! Stay away! Just stay away!"

The girl sighed and had the two step out of the room, and Shinji immediately ceased his ranting.

"You see?" She tells them. "We put it behind us…but he can't let go of it. Whoever it is you think he is, he's not the same as he once was. He's not even a shell."

Misato looked at Shinji again, and then sighed as she turned away.

"How did he end up like this?" She asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" The girl responded. "Everyone he knew, everyone he thought he knew, thought he could trust. They ruined him."

"What?" Hyuga responds. "No, that was his father. That was both his parents. They did what they did and…"

"It doesn't matter to him. It's all the same. NERV, the Eva, his parents, his classmates, they were all people that were either taken from him or flat out left him of their own accord. Everyone here knows who his parents were, may they burn in eternal damnation for what they, but the rest of NERV… You actually have some arrogance to think that he'd be okay after everything that happened."

They looked at Shinji again, who continued to ignore the world around him in favor of just looking out the window.

"Has anyone attempted trying to give him therapy?" Hyuga suggested.

"Ain't no therapists out here…and it's past the point of no return for him."

-x-

"I told you that you wouldn't like what you'd find on this path," the salt and pepper-haired man told Misato and Hyuga as they returned down the steps.

"Is he really that…broken because of NERV?" Misato asks him.

"In a way, yes. In another sense, he's like everyone else around here from before that tragic day. He just lost everything. His friends, his home, his peace of mind, even his very sanity, all gone. He couldn't deal, couldn't cope. If you ever see that redhead he worked with, let her know that this was her fault; she drove him to come to this place where those truly broken reside."

 _So, it was Asuka that did this?_ Misato wondered, and they left the island.

-x-

In his isolation, Shinji, despite his loneliness, shed at least one tear from out his left eye. The only thing he did today that was different over the years.

-x-

"Were you able to find Shinji on Kiganjima Island?" An older Ritsuko Akagi asked Misato as she returned to New NERV HQ, three days later.

"Yes," she answered, "and no. It was just as you suspected when you tested Asuka. He hasn't aged a day since Third Impact due to the extended use of the Evangelion, but his mind has since shut off the world around him. He didn't recover in the slightest degree from what happened."

"It's a miracle he's even alive after all this time."

"I wouldn't call sitting around ignoring the world around you alive. He was practically catatonic, even the slightest touch from someone was forbidden, and speaking of Third Impact had him yelling. I've never seen him so broken."

"You're the one in charge of New NERV, so what do you want to do about him?"

"Nothing right now. I want to question Asuka about what she didn't disclose to me about their return."

"Good luck with that. The German branch reported that she's as antisocial as ever because the latest attempt to get her body back to normal aging failed again. She claims that with the defeat of the Angels, she should be entitled to a life outside of NERV, yet she's held back by a fault of ours."

"The price they paid with the use of the Evas."

-x-

As the day turned into night, Shinji, still sitting in front of the window in his little corner of the Temple of Outcasts, continued to ignore everything and everyone around him.

He didn't even notice the three men that just appeared beside and in front of him.

The one in front of him resembled a little boy below the age of ten, carrying a large tube case on his back, dressed in an orange shirt and blue shorts, holding a sheathed tanto in his hands.

The man on his left resembled Shinji to a lesser degree, dressed in traditional Japanese attire for one attending a funeral, but his skin was paler, his hair cut slightly ragged, and his right hand was reduced to the bone.

The last one on his right was also similar to Shinji, but more lively, dressed in dark robes and wielding a large staff with a tiger and dragon decorative feature on top, like some sort of mage.

No, Shinji practically paid them no trace of mind.

"What's the verdict, Pale Rider?" The little boy asked the doppelgänger with the skeletal arm as he approached the catatonic teen…and touched his chest with said limb.

"Like me, he's very much dead," the pale-skinned version stated, "but that's only metaphorically. He's shut himself off to any form of communication between others. His very heart and soul…are broken beyond any capacity to mend. The slightest caress that is not without genuine affection is like poison to him. The merest whisper of love and friendship, lies to his ears. Where's he retreated from the outside world, it's like his own, personal purgatory, unable to escape until death claims his soul…and unwilling to leave it for even an instant."

"So, asking him for his help wouldn't change his situation, would it?" The one in robes suspected.

"No, it wouldn't. He's just waiting for the end of his life. There's no trace of any longing for a second chance for himself. No hint of wanting to hear any words from anybody that may hint of what he heard from his parents. No faith in anyone."

"Well, on the positive side, if we can't reach out to him, that means they can't reach out to him, either," the little boy stated.

"Not out for revenge or redemption. A lost cause. Pitiful and miserable as it is." The three bowed their heads to the catatonic teen as they faded away.

"I feel sorry for him…and those like him," the pale one said as they vacated the room, leaving him alone once more.

As he often did, Shinji gave no reaction to anything around him.

Fin

A/N: One of my worst depictions, but it would leave one wondering what if Shinji simply left society and retreated into himself, shutting out everyone. It also reveals that the two sides of the multiverse are gathering friends and allies, just not as successful as most.


End file.
